Facebook's New Diversity Numbers Are Still Pathetic

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Facebook's New Diversity Numbers Are Still Pathetic

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It's another disappointing day for those who would like to see the tech sector diversify its ranks.

Over the last year, little has changed to right the balance at Facebook, according to the company's latest diversity report, which shows little to no growth in the number of women and minorities employed at the company. Last year, 31 percent of staffers were women. This year, it's 32. Last year, 2 percent of its employees were black. This year, it's exactly the same. The number of women filling tech jobs at the company slid slightly, from the already paltry 16 percent to 15 percent.

To put a silver lining on it: these numbers show that change takes time.

To put it bluntly: these numbers are pretty pathetic.

Which doesn't mean Facebook isn't trying. Last year, Facebook's head of diversity Maxine Williams told WIRED that she and her team were touring historically black college campuses as a recruitment tactic, holding bias training for current employees, running a training program for college freshmen from underrepresented groups in tech called Facebook University, and even targeting Facebook ads for computer science programs to young women.

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This year, it seems, the company plans to do much the same thing, so there's reason for skepticism about whether the numbers will be any better next year. There are, however, a few noteworthy additions. In a blog post, Williams says Facebook will be quadrupling the number of students accepted into Facebook University. It's also sponsoring Lean In Circles, inspired by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg's bestselling book, that try to keep women in computer science by connecting them with other women in the field.

And, in a move bound to stir controversy in the tech industry's libertarian ranks, the company is also piloting a hiring program similar to the NFL's so-called Rooney Rule, which requires that at least one member of an underrepresented group is considered in every hiring decision.

The Rooney Rule had a major impact in increasing the number of minority coaches in the NFL after it was instated in 2003. We'll see if it can do the same for tech.